BETTER BEGINNINGS
Collaboration and education are key to giving young horses the best start in life
Better Beginnings is a BHF initiative focussing on the improved management and welfare of the young horse from conception to 2 years through the lens of the increasing threat to equestrianism’s social license to operate. The purpose of the project is to address and improve equine sustainable welfare with a new approach, by improving breeding and production practice, up to the age of two, when the growth plates fuse.
BETTER BEGINNINGS ROUNDTABLE EVENT
10th October 2022 at Weatherbys
At the first British Horse Foundation Better Beginnings conference, speakers and guests covered the importance of everything from good breeding decisions to early farriery intervention.
Improved education and teamwork are key to providing young horses with a start that will set them up for happy, healthy and sound lives long into the future. This was the key message of the event. To watch videos of all the presentations from the event, click below. The feedback from the attendees, gathered during the afternoon workshop session and subsequent plenary forum, showed us that a best practice guide for young horse production would help to fill a knowledge gap. With this in mind, we have arranged a webinar to gather more feedback which will be used to create the guide (see opposite).
To read the Horse and Hound report on the event, click below.
BETTER BEGINNINGS WEBINAR - YOUR OPINION MATTERS
6th December 2022 at 7pm
The BHF is inviting all those who are interested to a webinar entitled Better Beginnings – Your Opinion Matters, on 6 December at 7pm; a question and answer session during which expert panellists will share their opinions. This will build on the work we began at the Better Beginnings Roundtable event. The webinar panel will answer questions posed in advance, and the consensus will be used to create the best practice guide for young horse production. Registration is now open, and attendance is free.
BETTER BEGINNINGS:
FROM INCEPTION TO 2 YEARS OLD
Launched October 9th 2023
The British Horse Foundation is pleased to introduce our guidance document for young horse development. Bringing you all the cutting-edge research and up to date knowledge on each area of young horse development from inception to 2 years old. Better Beginnings is an ongoing initiative by the BHF to promote sustainable breeding practices that will allow us to breed horses and ponies that are happy, healthy athletes fit for whatever purpose they are intended.